


Break, Interrupted

by Happenstance_and_Balderdash



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Fight Scene, Gen, Injury, Noct whump, Temporary Character Death, Whump, emotional distress, phoenix down
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-04
Updated: 2018-07-05
Packaged: 2019-05-18 02:26:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,866
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14843858
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Happenstance_and_Balderdash/pseuds/Happenstance_and_Balderdash
Summary: The boys take a much needed break while traveling.  Unfortunately, a group of over-sized crabs has different plans.





	1. Gone Fishing

It had been a peaceful afternoon.  A chance for Noctis to fish and the guys to soak their feet.  They’d even made a decent haul of a couple of trout and a dace or two.  Noctis had, therefore, felt almost personally insulted when a couple of mightyshears had charged around the large stone obstruction at the bend in the river and nearly bowled them all over.  Caught completely off guard, the four went scrambling in all directions, Noctis cracking his fishing rod in the process and cursing loudly.

“Noct!  You ok?” Gladio’s voice came from his left, followed by a grunt as his Shield summoned and swung his weapon.

“Yeah!” he called back, throwing his broken rod to the side in favor of his sword, immediately warping across the small distance to where Prompto was backing away from one of the huge crustaceans.  With a swift swing of his blade, the approaching claw missed its mark.

“Prompto!  Hold your ground!” Ignis shouted from behind him, parrying an attack from an assailant of his own. 

Prompto’s eyes were wide and hands visibly shaking, but he stopped his retreat as he caught Noctis’ eye and seemed to steel himself.  “Right,” he said firmly.

The fight was fast and savage.  For such an absurdly large thing, the mightyshears were fast.  Their shells made them difficult enemies, and the group’s lack of preparedness put them at a disadvantage.  Noctis and Gladio weren’t even wearing shoes.  The four of them shouted back and forth to each other as the fight went on, confirming safety or calling out warnings. 

With one creature hobbling and the other two maneuvered closer together, Noctis shouted over to Gladio, “Hey, big guy!” and jerked his head toward the group.

Gladio grinned, planting his feet.  “I’m on it!”

Ignis and Prompto backed away quickly as Gladio swung heavily into the gathered beasts, scattering them but wounding all in the process.  The one already damaged went down completely and Prompto riddled the underside of its shell with bullets as it attempted to right itself.  Noctis cheered as Ignis brought his lance down and skewered the thing, pinning it to the ground, dead.

With only two left, the four of them split naturally to deal with them.  Gladio and Noctis took the larger of the two, while Ignis and Prompto took the smaller but faster one.  The larger creature swung its claw unexpectedly, knocking Noctis back, nearly into the water.  Gladio shouted, unable to go after him as the claw came back more quickly than its size should allow.  Winded, Noctis clutched his stomach and watched Gladio raise his blade to block, but he was slightly too slow.  The impact sent him sprawling back onto the rocky ground with the mightyshears following closely after.

“Gladio!” Noctis shouted, back on his feet. 

But Prompto got there first, rolling past his own attacker and spraying bullets at Gladio’s, sending the thing off balance and sliding to the side, giving Gladio the opening he needed to get back on his feet.  A dagger skittering to a stop several feet in front of him pulled Noctis’ attention to were Ignis was now fighting alone.  One hand newly empty, he summoned his lance instead.  But Noctis saw what was happening before Ignis did.  As the latter drew back his weapon, one giant claw swung downward.  There was no way he would be able to block it. 

“Ignis!” his voice was swallowed by the warp as he set himself firmly in front of his adviser, sword raised to fend off the blow.  It landed a second later with all the force he expected, nearly planting him in the ground.  But he had been successful.  He whipped his blade to the side, knocking the creature’s arm away.

He had just enough time to feel a moment of triumph…and then he was in the air, his blade dropping from his hand in shock, the air crushed from his lungs.

“Noct!” Ignis’ voice tore through the air, horrified.

“No!” He heard Prompto’s shout but couldn’t see him as the world spun sickeningly.  Gunshots rang out again and he felt a sudden burning pain in his leg.  He heard somebody curse.

His head was swimming.  He couldn’t get his breath.  He scrabbled for a grip on the unyielding pincers around his middle, but the erratic movements of the creature made it impossible as he was twisted and swung through the air.  He heard the others shouting and the sounds of fighting around him.  His body was on fire.  There wasn’t an inch of him that wasn’t in agony. 

With a bright flash that sent a jolt through his body, the creature reeled back, raising Noctis high in the air.  He registered Gladio’s voice from below, “Ignis, now!”

Ignis’ lance pierced up through the creature’s joint, shining bright and silver before twisting and breaking it off with a sickening crunch. Noctis fell, screaming as he hit the ground and his lungs forced air past shattered ribs.

“Finish it!” Ignis called as he rushed to Noctis’ side, his boots and then his knees suddenly in his line of sight.  “Noct!” He felt Ignis’ hands on his chest, at his side, then suddenly withdrawn and shoving something soft under his head.  “Noct, can you hear me?”  Noctis’ screams quieted into ragged gasps as a strange numbness began to spread across his body.  He welcomed it.  “Talk to me, Highness…”

His vision swam as he tried to focus on Ignis and he felt suddenly sick as he managed to get one shaking hand to his side.  Where he expected to find ripped clothes and torn flesh, his fingers touched…nothing.  He retched despite the pain and choked on a mouthful of blood.

“Noc- oh shit!” He heard Prompto vomiting out of sight. 

He gagged as he spat blood onto the ground, finally managing to locate Ignis.  He almost wished he hadn’t.  His own blood covered half of Ignis’ face and the horror he saw there brought fear up to war with his pain on equal footing.  Forcing another shallow breath into his lungs, he just managed to get sound into his voice to gasp, “ _help_ …”


	2. Fade

With shaking hands, Ignis broke a potion over the gaping wound, holding his breath.  It did not heal.  There was no faint glow of repair.  No knitting of the skin back together again.  No breath. 

Ignis’ whole body went cold.  Time stood still.  His eyes dragged up Noctis’ body from the bullet wound that had torn a hole through his calf, to the mess of gruesome destruction at his middle and up to his slightly open, unseeing eyes.  He would have looked almost peaceful except that his features had frozen in an expression of suppressed pain.  _Too pale_.

Barely forcing down his growing panic, he reached out and grabbed Prompto roughly by the wrist.  “Phoenix down, now!” he ordered. The words were harsh and broken, frantic as his other hand uselessly pressed down on the fatal point of damage.  Prompto broke away, looking terrified.

“Is he…” Gladio’s voice was uncharacteristically hesitant, his sword hanging forgotten from his hand.

It felt as if something were slowly constricting around his heart as the seconds stretched out and reality seemed to warp.  Sounds faded away around him and his fingers curled unconsciously into the fabric of Noctis’ blood-soaked shirt.

“Iggy, here!” He snapped back to the present as Prompto shoved the feather into his free hand and dropped to his knees on the other side of his fallen friend while their only hope was put to use.

The three of them hardly dared to breathe as the phoenix down faded away and a red glow flickered like flame around Noctis’ lifeless body.  Ignis’ eyes darted along the healing flames, searching for signs of repair.  It was taking too long.  The wounds began to gradually close, but life did not return as it should have. Why wasn't it...

“I-Iggy?” Prompto’s voice was little more than a whimper across from him. 

Gladio slowly backed away.

Ignis numbly took Noctis’ limp hand between his own, squeezing it tightly.  “Noctis…” he whispered, pleading. “Noct?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this is so short! It didn't feel right having this and the next chapter connected, so this is all on its own.


	3. Too close

Ringing in his ears

Burning in his lungs

It was far too warm… _hot_ …

What had…

_Ignis’ face above him, dirt-stained and blood-splattered, shouting something at Gladio that he didn’t understand.  A suffocating fog rolled heavily over him.  A blur of blond and flash of silver as he gritted his teeth against the pain of hard pressure against the wound.  Muffled shouting.  And then… and then..._

His body jolted painfully back to life, pulling air into his lungs before he was ready, making him cough violently as he scrambled to his hands and knees, entirely disoriented.  The voices around him were an indiscernible jumble of sound as his brain attempted to catch up to his body.  He centered his focus on a single smooth stone until his vision began to clear again, breathing deeply between coughing fits.  After a minute or so, he sat back on his heels, one hand reaching apprehensively for his wound.  His clothes were far beyond repair and wet with cooling blood, but he was profoundly relieved to find himself in one piece.  Though he was whole again, a phantom of his pain remained.  He frowned to himself as he considered that.  Shouldn’t he be fully healed?

A weak and falsely light-hearted “Hey, buddy!” pulled his attention away from the lingering pain and he looked up to find Prompto wringing his hands and wearing a tight-lipped smile under a runny nose.

“Hey,” he nodded back with a weak smile of his own.  “You okay?”  He couldn’t see anything obviously wrong, but the way Prompto was looking at him made him uneasy.

“Me!?” he asked, voice a little too high.  “Yeah, great!” He sniffed wetly and ran a hand back through his hair, looking incredulously back at Noctis but seeming to relax a fraction.

Behind Prompto, the looming form of Gladio stood stone still, facing in the opposite direction, sword discarded at his feet.  It was impossible to read his posture, but the sound of someone quietly clearing their throat drew his attention away from his mercurial Shield and he turned to find the source.  Ignis caught his eye momentarily and quickly looked away, wiping at his face.

Noctis frowned as he unsteadily got his feet back under him and crossed the short distance to where Ignis sat propped against the base of a large stone looking thoroughly exhausted. He crouched down beside him, trying to read his face, but the other turned away, instead attempting what Prompto had and adopting a falsely light-hearted tone.  “Highness!  All right?”

“Can’t get rid of me that easy, Specs,” he replied, matching the false brightness with some difficulty.  Ignis’ head whipped back toward him, expression almost scandalized.  But it was then that Noctis saw just how upset he was.  His eyes were red-rimmed and wet, and tears had smeared thin tracks down his cheeks through the film of blood and dirt.  Even his glasses were flecked with tears.  Ignis noticed the scrutiny he was under and averted his gaze again, looking at the ground instead.  Noctis set a hand on his shoulder and could feel him shaking.  Dropping the affected levity, he lowered his voice as he said, “Hey, I’m fine, Iggy.”

“Yes,” he agreed.

Noctis frowned as he continued, “Listen, it sucked.  No getting around that.” He touched his side again, still irritated by the lingering discomfort.  “But we’ve used a phoenix down before.”

Ignis nodded slowly, obviously holding something back.  “Of course.”

His adviser’s cageyness was beginning to put him on edge.  “Ignis, what – “

“It wasn’t the same,” interrupted Prompto.  Noctis looked up at him in surprise.  He had walked closer to the two of them, arms wrapped around his own middle and looking uncomfortable.  “It wasn’t like with me.”

The memory of Prompto’s death knotted Noctis’ stomach painfully.  A single perfectly aimed bullet had passed clear through Prompto’s heart in the heat of battle, killing him faster than they could get him a curative.  The lifeless expression of shock on Prompto’s face had haunted Noctis’ nightmares ever since.  But he had used their only phoenix down on him and life returned with a gasp and a flicker of fire.  It had shaken them all and prompted Noctis to drop the better part of their funds on a small stockpile.  But it had taken only a few seconds before Prompto had been back on his feet, however shakily.

“What does that mean?”  As he asked the question, he saw Gladio turn toward them, arms crossed and glowering.

“It…” Prompto fidgeted, looking down pleadingly at Ignis.  “I don’t know.  It didn’t work right.”

“Because it was you.”  Ignis pulled his glasses off and began rubbing at the grime with a fold of his shirt.  “Because the injury was so severe.”  He put his glasses back on, looked momentarily startled to find them worse than before, and set them down on his leg instead.  “There is a limit to what the phoenix down can do.  Time restraints, damage thresholds…”  He sounded more like himself as he explained, but what he was saying had Noctis holding his breath.  “It is only because of _you_ they work at all…”  He trailed off, looking uncomfortable.

“You almost died, you idiot.”  Gladio’s voice was harsh.  Angry.  Noctis hadn’t noticed the sound of his approach.  “Permanently.”

“It took too long.  The damage was slow to repair.  We…”  Ignis swallowed hard and his voice was quiet when he continued, “We thought we’d lost you.”

Noctis was silent for a long moment, the shadow of his near demise resting like a cloud over all of them.  He had scared them, but more than that, he had nearly left them vulnerable.  How many potions had they used since leaving Insomnia?  How many elixirs and other curatives?  It was only because they could use these things that they had made as much progress as they had.  Without him, those things would become useless.

“I’m sorry,” he said seriously, getting to his feet.

“It was a stupid move,” Gladio said angrily.

“It wasn’t, and I’d do it again,” he snapped back.  “I won’t apologize for trying to help any of you, ever.  That’s not what I’m sorry for.”  He took a calming breath and met Gladio’s momentarily surprised eyes.  “But I was sloppy and let myself get distracted. _That_ won’t happen again _._ ”

“Noct, you can’t know-“ Ignis began.

“It won’t happen again,” he repeated forcefully, looking back down at Ignis who was peering back at him with an unreadable expression.

“Well it better not!” Prompto stepped forward, slapping Noctis lightly on the back, voice high and jovial again as he brought the group’s attention on himself.  “You owe me a whole mess of gil for that lunch back at Galdin Quay.” His grin looked decidedly forced, but Noctis was grateful for the effort.

“I thought that was your treat.” He argued with half a smile.

“Lunch at Galdin Quay!?” Prompto feigned shock as Gladio pulled Ignis to his feet and they turned back toward the shore.  “That’s like my life’s savings for some fancy rice!”

“Sure, but Ignis knows how to make it now.  And he’ll probably make it better anyway.”  Noctis turned and walked backward, eyes raised in Ignis’ direction.  “Right?”

Ignis managed a smile as he pulled a cloth from his pocket.  “I may have some ideas.”

“There, see?” He turned back to Prompto as they reached the shore and their scattered belongings.  “A good investment.”

The group continued to talk lightheartedly despite the still-tense atmosphere while they washed away the blood and dirt the best they could.  It was unanimously agreed upon that a hotel was their destination for the evening.  Even Gladio didn’t argue for camping.  While the plan had been to cook the fish Noctis had caught for their dinner, nobody objected to selling them instead in favor of hot showers and soft beds.

The day had not gone as planned, and while he needed time to process some of it, Noctis was already thinking about the next leg of their journey.  Before setting off across the water, he wanted to give the guys a day to kick back.  One day where their… _his_ …responsibilities weren’t pressing down on them like the palm of the Titan.  Today was supposed to be that day, and it had all gone wrong.  He was determined to give them that small respite before jumping into what he knew would only be more danger.  Next time he’d get it right.  But for now…

“Hey Iggy,” he called as he threw his broken and torn things into the back of the car.  Ignis looked back from the driver’s seat.  “Let’s head back to Galdin Quay.”

Prompto sat up straight, hanging his arm over his car door as he protested, “I’m not paying for that!”

Noctis shook his head, smiling as he slid into his own seat and shut the door.  “My treat this time, Prom.”

As the engine growled to life and Ignis backed them out onto the unpaved road, Gladio’s voice rumbled bemusedly from his right “That’s more like it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed! I'd love to know your thoughts!


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